Raising awareness of the global food emergency is central to the Green agenda, Minister of State for Food and Horticulture Trevor Sargent said today.
Mr Sargent was speaking as he formally opened Trinity College Dublin’s first ever food week.
"Raising awareness of food issues, from sourcing local food and ensuring global food security to protecting farmers and consumers against risks associated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), are a vital part of the Green agenda,” Mr Sargent said.
“This event comes at a time when food has never been a more central issue and when the global challenges are more acute that ever before.”
Mr Sargent will speak at the college tomorrow on the topic of GMOs, which his party wants to see banned in Ireland.
The World Food Programme (WFP), a UN body, recently described rising food and fuel prices as “nothing less than a global emergency”.
Rising prices mean the world’s poorest people will have to spend a larger portion of their income on food, the WFP says. This may mean they will buy less food, or food that is less nutritious, or they may have to rely on outside help.
At the end of February, the body estimated it would need an additional $500 million on top of its base budget to cover the increased cost of food and fuel in poorer countries.
But because of rapidly rising prices, it now puts that figure at $755 million and says that may rise even further.
The TCD food week will feature an organic mini-market on the front square of the college on Wednesday and Thursday. Campus restaurants will feature special healthy menus devised in conjunction with chef Darina Allen.